sundance_festival_for_school_projectfandomcom-20200215-history
Structure of the festival
Programming and Logistics ''' ___________________________________________________________________________________________ -”Staff of 180 employees” -”Offices in Park City, Los Angeles, and New York City” -”Grants exceeding $3 million” -”Ongoing mentorships that support more than 900 artists each year” -The festival always takes place in January, this year it is January 24 to February 3 -”In addition to the Festival, Sundance Institute hosts many public programs in the US and around the world to connect artists with audiences to present original voices, inspire new ideas, and create community around independent storytelling.” -”We believe that a story driven by an individual, authentic voice can awaken new ideas that have the power to delight and entertain, push creative boundaries, spark new levels of empathy and understanding, and even lead to social change. We support independent storytellers and advance the impact of their work in the world.” Programs: Films - Award winners, U.S. Dramatic Competition (16 films), U.S. Documentary Competition (16 films), World Cinema Dramatic Competition, World Cinema Documentary Competition, Premieres, Documentary Premieres, Spotlight, Next, Midnight, Indie Episodic, Shorts, Special Events, From the Collection, Kids New Frontier - Exhibitions, VR Experiences, Films and Performances Offscreen - All panels, Power of story, Cinema Cafe, Hosted Presentations, Music About Us. (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2018, from http://www.sundance.org/about/us#/ '''Recognition ____________________________________________________________________________________________ The Sundance film festival is one of the biggest and most promising venues for upcoming directors to get discovered and picked up by a professional production studio. This is the place where a handful of underground artists finally get an overwhelming amount of recognition and a ticket to go west - exploring what Hollywood has to offer. 1 Hence why the word Sundance actually means “publicity” in old Indian language. (Turan, 41).2. There are only a handful of directors that accomplish this public view, however, because the scene is incredibly competitive. What once was a place where a wide variety of films that were submitted gained considerable recognition, suddenly transformed into a scene with intense rivalry and a tournament of sorts was created to fight for the spot of being the most non-commercialized film. (Turan, 46) 3. Successful directors that made it to the Hollywood spotlight based on their performance at Sundance include Kevin Smith and his premiere of Clerks, Ed Bruns and his premiere of The Brothers McMullen, Steven Soderbergh and his premiere of Sex, Lies and Videotape, and that’s just to name a few. (Turan, 31).4 Not only do directors largely benefit if they stand out in the eyes of the Sundance judges, but also the movies themselves stand to gain a considerable amount of profit. For example, The Blair Witch Project was a simple mockumentary horror film shot on a budget of $35,000. Once it was screened at Sundance, Artisan Entertainment bought the film for $1.1 million. 5. In addition, Quentin Tarantino's film Reservoir Dogs, went on to gross more than $2 million after screening at Sundance, establishing Tarantino as an emerging, bold Auteur. 6. This goes to show that what Kenneth Turan says about Sundance’s competitive nature is in fact true, because Artisan Entertainment was competing against many other watchful eyes from big time production studios, and that’s why they had to buy the product for so much more than it was actually worth to film. Sundance films that are received well become stages for bidding wars among highly successful producers. “Winning a coveted award often meant an instant distribution deal.” 7. The deals mentioned are a direct substitution of Hollywood’s old habits of vertical integration and theater chain popularity. (Wong, 142).8. (Refer to the history section of this wiki for more info on vertical integration and block booking) Moreover, Sundance is a venue full of press, so if one’s film is successful, it’s almost guaranteed every major newspaper is going to dedicate a mention to that film - “Sundance has the biggest concentration of press in the country. It’s better than a junket. We get interviews and stories placed on our movies we couldn’t get if weren’t at Sundance.” (Turan, 41)9 1. John Horn | John Horn has covered the Sundance Festival for the Associated Press since 1990. (1997, January 12). Case Study: Sundance : No Longer a Kid. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from http://articles.latimes.com/1997-01-12/entertainment/ca-17727_1_sundance-competition-films 2. Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 3. Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 4. Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 5. Corliss, R. (2009, January 15). Top 10 Sundance Hits. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from http://entertainment.time.com/2011/01/20/top-10-sundance-hits/slide/the-blair-witch-project-1999/ 6 . Friedman, M. (2010, January 27). Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1956952,00.html 7. Friedman, M. (2010, January 27). Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved April 16, 2018, from http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1956952,00.html 8. Wong, C. H. (2011). Film festivals culture, people, and power on the global screen. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. 9. Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Festival Image ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Sundance has always prided itself with becoming a platform for young, independent filmmakers that never stop experimenting and that constantly challenge the status quo. The festival’s mission is to create a place where films that rarely ever make it to commercialized viewing, are allowed a piece of the spotlight that Hollywood blockbusters strive to control. The festival attempts to embrace the new and exploratory, and to diverge from the mainstream. Has the festival achieved its goals? Some would disagree. “It was meant to be a place where independent visions were realized. It was supposed to be the antithesis of a market. But a market is what it's become.” 1 This quote sums up a lot of what Sundance has been criticized of becoming - a place where independent film is in fact underappreciated instead of praised due to the commercialization of independent cinema - “It’s difficult to escape the feeling that the competition selection process has an unmistakable anti commercial bias.” (Turan, 46)2 Criticisms extend to saying that movies only make the cut because they would otherwise never find such a wide audience. (Turan, 46)3 The festival appears to have overcompensated for praising unique and independent films, and has even been accused of awarding films based on their experimental value rather than judging the overall quality - “This anti commercial bias has infected Sundance juries.” (Turan, 47).4. Further critiques on the image of the festival, and the festival’s apparent contradiction, comes from the Variety critic Robert Koehler: “The largest and most famous American film “festival” has quite possibly damaged the cinema it was specifically designed to support - American Indie Film - more than any cluster of neglectful studios ever have, because it rejects cinephilia with cool disinterest.” (Wong, 50). 5 # (n.d.). Retrieved April 16, 2018, from https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/library/film/050299int-film-festival.html # Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. # Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. # Turan, K. (2003). Sundance to Sarajevo: Film festivals and the world they made. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. # Wong, C. H. (2011). Film festivals culture, people, and power on the global screen. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. ''